Homecoming Hearts Series Collection

by HJ Welch

  A part of him was terrified that his dad had very real power over him and Elion with that threat. But as usual, he was all bluster with no actual weight behind him.

  “He’s not to set foot in this house again,” his dad said, like he was winning this argument.

  Blake scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m moving out. As soon as I find my own place, I’m gone. This place is toxic.”

  His dad started off on another tirade about how unappreciative Blake was and how he wouldn’t get away with disgracing the family like this. But something had caught Blake’s eye and the alarm that filled him drowned out his words.

  “Where did you get this?” he demanded, interrupting his dad mid-rant.

  He snatched up the top letter from the mail he had brought in with him and left on the rumpled bed sheets. It was another one from the stalker, he was sure. He recognized the typeface and style of the envelope. However, there was one crucial difference.

  His dad looked perplexed. “It’s just what you had by the front door,” he said with a scowl. “It doesn’t matter, you need-”

  “Shut up,” Blake cried, panicked. “Look at it – look!” He thrust the letter into his dad’s face. “It doesn’t have a postage mark, not like the others. If it wasn’t mailed, how did it get into the house?”

  His dad’s eyes widened as Blake tore into the letter.

  You had your chance’ read the familiar magazine cut-outs.

  I’m so disappointed in you

  Don’t say I didn’t warn you

  This is your fault

  “Elion,” he whispered. He spun around and threw himself at the window. His car was still in the driveway. “ELION!”

  He ignored his dad’s protests as he bolted around him out into the corridor. His room was on the third floor and he took the stairs two at a time, calling his boyfriend’s name. He was probably being stupid. But the note sounded like he was out of time.

  How had it got into the house? Had someone delivered it by hand? Had the stalker been there?

  He reached the foyer and bolted for the front door. “Elion!” he bellowed again.

  Just as he reached the handle, the glass in the windows either side of the door shattered, imploding all over the polished floor. The door shook and Blake threw his arms up over his face as he staggered backwards.

  Disbelief froze him in place as the glass finished tinkling to the ground. There was smoke outside.

  “ELION!” he screamed.

  27

  Elion

  Elion wished he didn’t have to bid farewell to Blake, but it was more than likely a good thing that he needed to go home. It would probably do them both good to have a bit of space and process what had been quite an emotional few days.

  Unlike before when he’d had worry twisting in his gut over where they stood and what was going to happen, he jogged down the stairs with a ridiculous grin on his face. He just wanted a bit of time to bask in the joy of making everything clear and honest between him and Blake. Never in a hundred years would he have foreseen this outcome.

  Blake Jackson was his honest-to-God boyfriend.

  He heard voices above him as he reached the second floor and stopped to jerk his head up. Now he was paying attention, he could hear other sounds of life on the other floors too.

  As much as he wasn’t afraid of these people – certainly not Jodi – he had no wish to make life difficult for Blake by antagonizing his parents. No doubt if they were home they had more than likely registered his car in the driveway, but he didn’t need to have a face to face confrontation as well.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t get much of a choice as he crossed the second-floor landing and almost ran straight into Mrs. Jackson coming out of what looked like hers and Mr. Jackson’s room.

  “Jenna,” he said brightly. She would be seeing a lot more of him now, so maybe it would be a good idea to ingratiate himself a little. “Hi, I was just on my way out.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. She had a pair of skinny jeans on that hugged her flat stomach, pink, sparkly pumps, a floral camisole and diamond jewelry probably worth enough to pay his mom’s mortgage for a year. Or longer, what did he know?

  She looked him up and down. He decided in that moment that she didn’t hate him. She just didn’t know him. She bit her painted nail and seemed to consider what she wanted to say.

  “Some of the moms said there was a bit of a scene at the school today,” she said, just when the pause was threatening to get awkward between them. Now it was absolutely awkward.

  Of course the yoga-latte brigade had sold him out. They probably had a whole social networking system in place for all the best gossip.

  “Oh, yeah,” he said with a laugh, hoping to brush it off. “I can be such a drama queen sometimes,” he said. “Blake calmed me down though. You know what it’s like when you’re still getting to know each other. Hopefully that should be the last fit I throw for a good long while.” He waved his hand in Jenna’s direction. “Blake is such a good influence on me.”

  Jenna shifted on her three-hundred-dollar shoes. “But Blake’s not gay though,” she said with a shrill laugh. She fiddled with the sparkling necklace sitting on her prominent collarbones. “This is just a bit you’re doing for the show.”

  Elion licked his lips. “You have an incredible son,” he said, stepping closer and resting a hand on her slim shoulder. She allowed him to do it and didn’t flinch away. Just looked up at him with wide blue eyes. The same eyes as Blake had. “I think you should talk with him. But he means the world to me and I respect him so much. All I’d ask is that you keep that in mind.” He smiled and turned to jog down the next flight of stairs. “Oh,” he turned to add before he rounded the bannister. “I think my mom would really love to meet you. Let me know if you’d like that too?”

  To her credit, Jenna Jackson didn’t dismiss him out of hand. She did pout in confusion though, looking down at the carpet with a frown as she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times.

  Elion left her to mull it over. As much as he thought they’d never really be friends, he loved Blake and he wanted to build as many bridges as he could with his family.

  He checked his watch as he trotted down into the foyer. He should still beat his mom home. It wasn’t that long a drive between their two houses. This town wasn’t really big enough to manage that.

  “Oh, hey man,” a vaguely familiar voice sounded. Elion paused for the second time, frowning as Rob Matherson stepped out from the den. As usual, he was wearing a Panthers sweatshirt and the same workout shorts as the team wore.

  It was easy to feel sorry for him, but it was hard not to find him annoying too. Had he even played on the team when he’d been at school? The guy had graduated five years ago and he was still relying on his dad for a job with the softball team and hanging out with Seniors like Jodi, trying to reclaim some kind of glory days.

  Elion was one to talk. But he’d not really had much choice about sticking around this place.

  He had a moment’s private pause where suddenly, that didn’t seem like such a burden anymore. In fact, with Blake by his side, the idea of getting settled together around here seemed pretty appealing.

  His pleasure and joy was undoubtedly showing on his face. He tried to temper in down. It would be uncouth to announce to the world how thoroughly well fucked Below Zero’s Blake Jackson had left him.

  “Oh hey,” he said. “You waiting on Jodi again?”

  “Yeah,” Rob said. He was giving Elion a once-over, he was sure. He was almost certain his dick wasn’t hanging out his pants, so he decided whatever he was seeing he could deal with. Elion wasn’t bothered.

  “Well I better get going,” he said, moving towards the door.

  “You here with Blake?” Rob asked, making him pause.

  Elion shrugged. “Yeah, just hanging out,” he downplayed. The first person he was going to talk to about the magnificent fucking he’d just had was not going to be this guy. “Anyway-�
�

  “You know he’s still never spoken to me,” said Rob, shaking his head. “Not at school, not since he’s been home. Even though Jodi and I are friends. Isn’t that crazy?” He laughed, but Elion detected a hint of bitterness there. Man, some people were just so fame hungry and celebrity obsessed. It was like he thought Blake owed him a conversation or a selfie or something. He needed to let it go.

  “I’m sure it’ll happen,” said Elion as kindly as he could. After all, this guy didn’t have the most exciting life, of that he was already sure. “Just play it cool, he’ll totally come say hi soon. He’s a good guy.”

  Rob chuckled and nodded. “That’s why he’s your boyfriend, right?”

  Elion distracted himself by pulling his car keys out. “Yeah,” he said. He didn’t really feel like going into it. Blake was his, he was special and it felt like this guy just saw him as a meal ticket or shiny prize to be idolized. “I have to head out I’m afraid. But catch you later, okay?”

  “Sure buddy,” said Rob warmly. “Take care.”

  Elion blinked to himself as he headed towards the door. Maybe Jodi would make him a little bit more chilled? Though, to be honest, he wasn’t sure why she was still hanging out with him.

  At the turn of the handle, Elion heard a scrabbling of paws from behind on the marble. “Oh, hey girl,” he said, happily bending down to rub Watson’s back. “Did you miss me?”

  She barked as he pulled the door open, and before he knew it, she zipped out the yard and up to his car. He laughed and shook his head.

  “Come on now, you can’t come with me,” Elion chuckled. A quick glance over his shoulder told him Rob had vanished again and he sighed. At least he wasn’t awkwardly hovering. “Watson,” he called with a whistle.

  She ran in a circle a couple of times and howled. He was evidently going to have to go get her.

  “Come on sweetie,” he called, stepping outside. Of course the door swung shut behind him. That was okay though, in theory Jodi was close enough to let them back in. That, or he’d have to have another awkward conversation with Rob.

  Watson sprinted back to him, but before he could try and pick her up, she darted off again. Lucky she was only a medium sized dog as she launched herself at Elion’s car door and slammed her paws against the already chipping paint work.

  “Watson, no,” he snapped. But she didn’t seem to care. She just kept wagging her tail and ran around his legs as he walked up the inspect the door. He opened it to check it still swung out okay. As he suspected before, he’d forgotten to lock it. But in the heat of the moment, he could forgive himself.

  It opened just fine; she didn’t weigh that much after all. So there was no harm done. But she was barking and yowling down the house, jumping into the driver’s seat and out again. She head-butted him and ran this way and that, clearly agitated.

  Never having had a dog of his own, Elion wasn’t sure what to do other than try and get her back inside the house. “Come on, darling,” he said. He left the car door open and tried to herd her back towards the house. She was really braying though, jumping on his legs then running away again.

  He began to feel worried. Maybe she was sick. As he got closer to the house she raced up and began scratching the door. Jenna would probably hate that, so he jogged the last couple of feet towards the steps.

  He had no warning as the blast exploded through the air. The sound of his car squealing apart and the roar of the flames hit just before the heat did. The force knocked him off of his feet as debris rained down around him. He only caught a glimpse of the concrete front step before it rushed to meet his face, and his whole world went black.

  28

  Blake

  Blake didn’t think as he launched himself at the door. His brain only seemed capable of processing actions. The foremost of which was getting to Elion.

  Because he couldn’t have been in the middle of whatever had just happened. He couldn’t. Because they had only just sorted out all their crap and everything was good and-

  He yanked open the door to see Elion slumped over the steps, Watson running up and licking his face as blood pooled over the step.

  “NO!” He registered the flaming wreck of a car down the drive, but that wasn’t his immediate concern. Whether or not Elion was breathing was the only thing that mattered.

  He fell down on the front steps and carefully pulled him into his lap. He jammed his two fingers against Elion’s throat, pleading to the universe that he’d find a pulse. The little thrum thrum thrum made him sob in relief, as did the pitiful moan Elion uttered. He still didn’t seem conscious, but he was sure as hell alive.

  “HELP!” he screamed, cradling Elion to him. They needed all the flashing lights right now, and he wasn’t moving anywhere until they came. “ANYBODY!”

  It felt like it had been minutes, but it could only have been seconds before someone rushed to his side. He felt reassuring hands on his shoulders. Even if it was his dad, after their fight, he was grateful.

  “Holy shit, Blake, what happened?”

  He didn’t recognize that voice. He turned to look behind him to see a guy about his age who he’d never seen before in his life.

  “He needs an ambulance,” Blake managed to croak out, despite his confusion.

  The guy shook his head and moved to the side of them, then took Blake’s shoulders in his hands again. “Everything’s going to be fine, Blake.”

  Blake looked between the flaming wreck and down at his beautiful boyfriend’s face. “Have you called 911?”

  The guy shook his head. “For fuck’s sake,” he muttered. “Do you even recognize me?”

  Blake blinked and looked up as the guy stood. Watson was pawing pitifully at Elion’s side, trying in her doggy way to rouse him. What was this guy saying?

  Blake was so used to all the various crew hanging around, having strangers in his home didn’t seem all that odd to him. But who was this guy? Why did he think Blake should know him?

  Fuck, was he one of those psychos who connected with famous people then got pissed when they didn’t know them?

  “Look, man, I’m so sorry, but right now Elion really needs to get to a hospital.” He could hear shouting from inside the house. Reinforcements were coming.

  The guy shook his head and pulled out a glass jar with a plastic cap from his hoodie pocket. “Why are you making this so hard?”

  Blake frowned and wiped Elion’s forehead. He was almost certain it was just a small gash on his temple that was bleeding. He remembered when they were sound-checking on tour once and Raiden had got smacked on the head with a wayward prop. Head wounds gushed like a motherfucker, so he couldn’t freak out too much about the blood.

  But Elion was still unconscious. Breathing, but not awake.

  Watson was growling at the stranger, her tail tucked between her legs and her ears dropped down either side of her head. Blake heard his mother shouting and the door swung open.

  “No!” the guy screamed, yanking the cap off the bottle. “No, no, we’re finally talking! You have to leave us alone!”

  Blake looked between him and his folks. They’d stopped at the threshold, talking in the scene on their front yard. “It’s okay,” he rasped. “Everything’s fine, we just need to call 911.”

  “Rob?” his dad said.

  Blake looked back over. “Rob, is it? I don’t know what’s happening. Can you help us out?”

  The guy, Rob, bared his teeth. “You didn’t even remember my name, did you?” He laughed, a hollow, grating sound. “And now you want my help?”

  He sloshed the bottle in his hand around, disturbing the clear liquid inside. Blake had a sudden, sickening feeling in his gut.

  “Yes, I really need your help,” he said. Elion was so heavy in his arms. Watson had stopped barking and was now whimpering and licking the bare skin on his arm. “Why don’t you tell me what you want?”

  His mom made as if to move, but his dad threw his arm out to stop her. He’d spotted the bottle as w
ell.

  Rob started laughing so hard it became a sob. “What do I want?” he yelled. “I wanted you to say hi once in a while. I wanted to be in your homecoming court. I wanted to be on your show, just for a second. But you’re always too good for the little people, aren’t you? Mr. Superstar Boy Band!”

  He spat on the grass.

  Elion’s poor car was still blazing on the drive several feet away and it felt like half the street had all come out to look at what was going on. Kala and Seth were there with Marcus, the whole crew fanned out around the property. Half a dozen cameras recording the most terrifying moment of his life.

  No one was trying to get near them though, not even his own parents. Blake was thankful; he didn’t know what Rob would do if anyone approached. Although he also didn’t know how to end this standoff.

  Was that sirens wailing in the distance? Or was he merely just so desperate he was imagining things?

  This had to be the stalker. He’d brought the letter inside today. But how? Where had he come from? Why had he been able to gain access to Blake’s family home?

  “What’s in the bottle, Rob?” he asked, drawing Elion closer to his body.

  Rob snarled. He had tears running down his face and he was trembling. “You’re so pretty, so talented. But you’re also just like everyone else, you’ll see. I’ll help you. It’s okay, being ordinary. I’ll make you normal, like everyone else.”

  Blake wasn’t ashamed to admit he was scared shitless. A teaspoon’s worth of the liquid from the bottle had sloshed onto the grass a minute ago, and now it was starting to smoke.

  It was acid.

  All it would take would be a flick of the wrist, and he could hurt him and Elion beyond imagination. Blake grit his teeth and rolled Elion against his body, protecting his face, getting blood all over his sweatshirt.

  “Do you think this will make me like you?” he said. He was probably getting this all wrong, but all he could think of was to keep talking while the sirens drew closer. “You hurt the man I love.”